"Now That I Found You" was written at a songwriting camp in Nicaragua with Benjamin Berger, Ryan McMahon and Ryan Rabin of production team Captain Cuts and Alexander O'Neill, known professionally as Ayokay, in August 2017. It is a pop and synth-pop[2] song with a "synth-heavy, '80s-inspired sound".[1] Jepsen revealed that she wasn't in love when she wrote the song, and was just imagining how good she wanted to feel.[3] She stated that the track "is about the high you get when a new love starts to change your life".[1]
On February 13, 2019, "Now That I Found You" was featured in the teaser trailer for the third season of Queer Eye and the song was made available to pre-save on streaming services.[4] On February 20, 2019, Jepsen revealed the single's cover and release date. On February 21 and 22, 2019, Jepsen released teaser videos with snippets of "Now That I Found You".[5][6] On February 25, 2019, Jepsen announced that "No Drug Like Me" would be released alongside "Now That I Found You".[7] A teaser video with a snippet of the song was released the following day.[8] On February 27, 2019, "Now That I Found You" made its world premiere on Apple Music's Beats 1 radio as Zane Lowe's World Record.[9]
Critical reception
Upon its release, "Now That I Found You" was named the Song of the Week by Consequence of Sound.[10] Music critic Anthony Fantano highlighted it as one of the best songs on Dedicated.[11]The Guardian journalist Betty Clarke selected "Now That I Found You" as one of the best tracks of 2019.[12] In October 2022, Rachel Seo of Variety ranked it as Jepsen's eighth best song.[13]
The music video for "Now That I Found You" was directed by Carlos López Estrada and Nelson DeCastro, and premiered on March 14, 2019.[16] It shows Jepsen caring for a lost tabby cat, which was portrayed by the celebrity cat, Shrampton.[17] The video contains product placement for Abarth cars, the TikTok app, and Beats headphones,[18] as well as references to the Cats on Synthesizers in Space Instagram account and the final scenes of the film Breakfast at Tiffany's.[17] The idea to use a cat in the video was inspired by an actual cat who was adopted by Jepsen's partner at the time of recording the song's vocals.[3][19] The singer said that the video's basis upon a cat rather than a person was partially inspired by her previous single "Party for One".[17]
Live performances
Jepsen performed "Now That I Found You" for the first time on BBC Radio 1's Live Lounge on April 25, 2019. It was then included in the setlist of The Dedicated Tour.